


never wanna be anyone's enemy (just wanna be the girl i once was)

by dearingsattler



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29690673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearingsattler/pseuds/dearingsattler
Summary: In which Liv Amara wanders into a certain café, strikes up an unlikely friendship and somehow finds herself again along the wayOr: a Liv Amara character study of sorts
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not really 100% sure where this fic came from but I've been super intrigued by Liv considering how little we know about her and we've had a lot of villains/ex-villains in the Lucky Cat in the show so my brain went to what would happen if Liv, who isn't exactly a villain but also not completely innocent, happened to enter the café and then this happened. I also just like the idea of Cass befriending her, I mean this is the woman who gave Globby, an ex-villain who is also a monster, a job and accepting the bots once they had Obake's chips removed from them, it would be completely in character for her to do so. And so, this fic was born and maybe also spiraled slightly but that's kind of the norm for me at this point. Anyway, I've never written for this fandom before so hopefully I did okay with the characterizations and that people like it
> 
> Warning for brief mentions of sibling death and cancer
> 
> Title is from That Girl - Tegan and Sara

If Liv Amara were being honest with herself, she was more than a bit lost.

The more she learned about what Di did while she was in cryosleep, the more horrified she felt, the more she regretted everything that had caused this all to happen.

The more she hated herself.

The damages were immense. Even if most of Di’s monsters had been willing participants, there had still been the factor of reparations to the city to make up for the chaos they had caused, the damage they had done. And then there were the reparations to those who hadn’t been willing participants.

Liv wasn’t sure she could ever make it up to anyone involved.

Sycorax had somehow survived but barely. It was nothing more than her and a skeleton crew putting out the products that had caused her and her company to rise to the spotlight in the first place; treatments and vaccinations more efficient than anything that had previously been brought to market for a variety of illnesses. Even then, there had been a lag in demand until it had been proven that it had been Liv at the helm when they were created, not Di, once that had been established people began to trust them again and their sales rose once more.

Di. The moniker she had chosen for herself left a bitter taste on Liv’s tongue, but she was thankful that she had chosen to go by that and not Diane. Still, she found the need to distinguish herself from her clone as much as possible. Her wardrobe was the first thing to go through an overhaul, eliminating it of all red, the colour that had become Di’s trademark, opting instead for a range of blues and greens. Her normal hairstyle was out too, the loose over the shoulder look getting traded for a simple braid that was much more lab appropriate. She considered dying it but found she couldn’t bring herself to, she wasn’t going to let Di ruin everything for her.

Liv found herself thankful for the anonymity of San Fransokyo; in a city where weird things happened all the time, she quickly became yesterday’s news. The city moving on and her efforts to differentiate herself thankfully made it easy for her to move about the city unnoticed. She still wouldn’t call herself poor by any means, but many of the reparations had come out of her own pocket and the change in her financial status meant errands she had had her assistant do she now did herself and she relied much more on taxis and public transit now that she no longer had a driver and didn’t drive herself.

It was actually kind of nice. Doing things for herself had given her something of a sense of purpose, something she had lacked in the fallout of Di considering that there wasn’t much to be done at Sycorax anymore. But she still felt lost, she still wanted to make a difference in the world, to work towards a future with no disease but, despite old products still being accepted, she wasn’t sure anyone would be willing to accept a new treatment or vaccine created by Sycorax. She had briefly entertained the idea that rebranding and starting anew might increase acceptance, but she knew as soon as her name was associated there would be no difference.

She had been contemplating the future for both her and Sycorax as she walked down the streets of San Fransokyo when she came across a small café. She wasn’t sure what drove her to go inside but it had given off the homey comforting vibe she had been craving and seemed like a good place to sit down and just think. She didn’t know in that moment though that it was going to be one of the best decisions she would ever make.

The bell above the door chimed as she entered, the woman behind the counter looking up and greeting her with a bright smile. “Welcome to the Lucky Cat, what can I get you?”

Liv approached the counter with slight trepidation, taking a look at the menu board, suddenly finding the whole thing slightly overwhelming. “I’m not sure,” she said slowly, “what’s your favourite thing on the menu?”

The woman studied her for a moment, something akin to sympathy flashing across her face much to Liv’s embarrassment. “I find the matcha lattes to be quite soothing when I need it, plus they pair well with the cranberry scones.”

Liv gave her a strange look. “How did you,” she started before shaking her head. “Never mind. That sounds great, actually.”

“Perfect. Why don’t you take a seat somewhere and I’ll bring that right over?” She suggested.

Liv nodded. “Thanks,” she paused, realizing that the woman wasn’t wearing a name tag.

“Cass,” she supplied. “And you are?”

“Livia,” Liv answered. Her full first name felt strange on her tongue but introducing herself as such had become another method of separating herself from Di, who was still more associated with the name Liv Amara than Liv herself was.

“It’s nice to meet you, Livia,” Cass told her with a smile. “Now, go relax, I’ll be right over with your order.” Her tone was gentle but left no room for argument.

Liv smiled at her before going to find a seat. The café was relatively quiet, only a few other patrons dotted around, but still she chose a small table tucked away in a corner, flying under the radar was still one of her main goals after all. It wasn’t long before Cass came over with her order. “That looks amazing,” Liv commented, looking at the artful latte.

“Latte art is something of a specialty of mine,” Cass replied. “Haven’t seen you around here before, what brings you to this neck of the woods?”

So, Cass was a conversationalist. Liv hoped that things weren’t about to go downhill. “Went for a walk to clear my head, found myself in the neighbourhood,” Liv said with a shrug, hoping that Cass wouldn’t pry too much.

“I find the Lucky Cat to be a great place to think.” Liv looked up and met Cass’s eye, noticing the gentle look in them. “I won’t pry, but I’m always willing to lend an ear if you need one.”

Liv smiled as relief washed over her. “Thank you, Cass,” she told her sincerely. Maybe someday she would take Cass up on her offer, but not yet.

The bell chimed as another customer entered the café. “Of course. For now, enjoy and let me know if you need anything.” That bright smile made another appearance as Cass walked away to help the new customer.

Liv relaxed into her chair, finally picking up her latte and taking a sip, pleased to find that it tasted as good as it looked. A bite of the scone confirmed it was also just as good.

Perhaps she would have to come back to this place.

Liv started going back to the Lucky Cat on a regular basis.

She chose times in which she knew the café would be quiet, not only was there less of a chance of being recognized, the peace those times provided felt very grounding. Plus, the café being quiet always meant she got to spend time talking to Cass.

Liv had to admit she had grown quite fond of the other woman; it was nice having someone in her life she could consider a friend. They didn’t always talk about much, often it was just trivial matters, but it had become her favourite part of the week. It made her feel guilty though, she hadn’t yet told Cass of what had happened, how she was responsible for so much damage that had been done. She had spoken vaguely of her work, but she hadn’t mentioned Sycorax by name or that she was CEO. She was pretty sure Cass hadn’t made the connection; anyone would have mentioned it by now if they had.

The Lucky Cat was empty one afternoon as she entered, the bell echoing more than usual as she opened the door. Cass startled, seemingly having been almost asleep at the counter, her face instantly brightening as she saw Liv. “Livia! Thank god, I was about ready to die of boredom.” She gave an exaggerated sigh.

Liv giggled at her antics. “Slow day?” She asked, moving to take a seat at the counter for once instead of her usual corner table.

“Dead,” Cass confirmed. “There’s some sort of event on the other side of town, business is always slow when that happens, though this is ridiculous. I was actually contemplating closing up when you came in.”

“Oh.” Liv went to stand back up. “If that’s the case, I can leave.” She didn’t want to be that annoying customer who couldn’t take a hint.

“Nonsense, you stay right there.” Cass moved from behind the counter as she spoke. “I am going to close up, but there is no need for you to go anywhere, this will just give us a chance to really hang out.” She headed towards the door, locking it and flipping the sign before Liv could protest. “Now, how about some tea?”

And that was how Liv found herself spending the afternoon at the Lucky Cat talking with Cass, getting to know the woman a bit more. She hadn’t intended on spending this long at the café so she shouldn’t have been surprised when her phone went off, but she certainly had been hoping it wouldn’t. Cass had just finished a particularly amusing story about one of her more interesting customers that had Liv in stitches, but her mood soured almost instantly as she read the text.

“Everything okay?” Cass asked her, concerned.

Liv sighed. “It’s just someone from the lab letting me know of the problem they’ve encountered. Honestly, that’s nothing new at this point.” She put her phone down and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. She hadn’t been exaggerating, Sycorax might be surviving but it certainly wasn’t thriving, and they just kept encountering one problem after another.

Cass gave her a sympathetic look. “Things not going well at the company?”

Liv shook her head. “They haven’t been for a while,” she said with another sigh. “We’re keeping afloat but that’s really all I can say.”

“Any idea why?” Cass inquired.

Liv bit her lip. She might know the answer to Cass’s question, but that didn’t mean she knew how to go about answering it. She knew she needed to be honest with Cass but felt her anxiety spike at the mere thought.

“Livia,” Cass’s voice interrupted her thoughts. Liv’s head snapped up from the spot on the table she had been staring at to meet Cass’s eye. “Or do you prefer Liv?”

“Wait, you?” Was all Liv managed to say, sure the panic that was suddenly clenching her was clear on her face.

Cass nodded. “I didn’t realize right away; it took me a couple weeks to make the connection but when I came across an article on Sycorax online I realized.”

“You did?” This confused Liv, distracting her from her previous panic. “I don’t get it, why would you continue to allow me into your café, to keep being my friend if you knew?”

“Because,” Cass reached across the table, taking Liv’s hands gently in her own, “you are not your clone. The things she did? You are not the one responsible for them.”

“I created her though, how is that any different from performing those acts myself?” Tears pricked at the backs of Liv’s eyes, but she was determined not to cry.

“Were your instructions to turn people into monsters whether they were willing or not?” Cass asked wryly, raising an eyebrow.

Apparently, shock was the next in the range of emotion this conversation was causing Liv. “What? No, of course not,” she spluttered. “I mean maybe my instructions weren’t clear enough but,” she started before getting cut off.

“Nope, none of that. How were you to know she would interpret whatever instruction you left for her as ‘start turning people into monsters’?” Cass gave Liv’s hands a squeeze. “I’ve done my research, I know that you’ve paid both the city and several individuals massive reparations without hesitation; you’ve taken responsibility, made amends to everyone. But you still can’t forgive yourself, can you?”

Liv found herself unable to answer, tears now silently falling down her cheeks.

“She was far from the first to have attacked this city and no one died in the process this time,” Cass reminded Liv. “I want you to remember that when considering if you’ve done enough.” Liv managed a weak smile for her, Cass giving her a gentle one back. “I do have one question though; what exactly happened to you, why did you create a clone?”

Liv hadn’t been expecting that, letting out a somewhat hysterical giggle, feeling drained from the conversation. “That’s a whole different emotional conversation,” she said.

“Another time then,” Cass relented as her phone went off. “Looks like my nephew is on his way home,” she said, checking it.

“I think I’ll take that as my cue to head out.” Liv stood, picking up her sweater and purse.

“Are you sure? You’re more than welcome to join us for dinner,” Cass told her.

Liv shook her head. “Honestly, I’m exhausted,” she admitted.

“Alright,” Cass relented, “next time then.” She also stood, coming around the table to pull Liv into a hug.

It took all of Liv’s strength to not burst into tears at the gesture, it had been a while since anyone had hugged her. “I needed that,” she confessed as they pulled back from the embrace.

“That’s what friends are for.” Cass smiled at her once again. “I’m always here for you.”

Liv returned her smile with a somewhat watery one. “Thank you.”

As luck would have it, Liv didn’t end up meeting Cass’s nephew for another month.

Cass had mentioned her nephew several times in conversation. Liv knew that Cass had raised him from the time he was three, that he was a young genius who attended SFIT, and apparently was a former bot fighter who’d had a few encounters with the law. He was also clearly the most important person in Cass’s life and Liv was looking forward to getting a chance to meet him.

She had brought her laptop with her to the Lucky Cat one afternoon, taking her usual seat in the corner in hopes of getting some work done. She had been so focused on her work that she was only vaguely aware of Cass saying to someone, “you should go introduce yourself to Livia,” her name catching her ear, feeling relieved that Cass was respecting her wishes to still refer to her by her full first name when mentioning her to others.

Still absorbed in her work, she hadn’t looked up but felt a presence next to her, nearly jumping out of her skin when he spoke. “Liv Amara?” Liv’s head snapped up to see the boy who had been present when she had come out of cryosleep, Hiro Hamada. “You’re the Livia my aunt’s always talking about?”

Panic seized Liv, she hadn’t realized until this moment exactly who Cass’s nephew was, if she’d realized earlier, she would have never returned to the Lucky Cat. “Hiro,” she spluttered, “I didn’t realize- if I’d known- I can leave and not come back.” She tripped over her words as she spoke, shutting her laptop and starting to put it and the papers she had scattered on the table in her bag to leave.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Hiro held up his hands as if he were trying to calm a scared animal, which, Liv supposed, was exactly how she was coming across. “You don’t have to go anywhere.” He took the seat across from her.

Liv gave him a stunned look. “I don’t understand. How can you stand to be around me after what happened?” She kept her voice low as she had a feeling Cass knew about none of this.

Hiro shrugged. “You’re not Di,” was all he said.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I created her,” Liv pointed out.

Hiro shrugged again. “And how you’ve responded in the aftermath of all that just proves how different you are from her.”

Liv sighed. “Still, what she nearly did to you, what she _did_ do to your friend.” She could feel the tears starting to burn at the backs of her eyes once more, they may have won when she had this conversation with Cass, but she was determined to not let them win this time around.

“That still wasn’t you,” Hiro insisted. “And don’t forget you were the one to reverse it upon waking up. You’re not a bad person, Liv.”

Instead of responding to that, Liv said instead, “I know I probably have no right to be asking, but how is Karmi doing?”

“Pretty good actually,” Hiro answered. “She’s been driving her parents crazy wanting to come back to SFIT.”

“I can imagine,” Liv chuckled half-heartedly. “I’ve made it clear to Professor Granville that I’ll be covering all her expenses should she return; I wonder if she’s passed that notice on to them.”

“I’ll look into that, I’m sure Karmi would love to use it to convince her parents.” Hiro studied her for a moment. “She doesn’t blame you either, you know. She wishes Di had gone about things differently, but she knows what Di did isn’t your fault, and she’s glad that you were alright in the end.”

“I find that hard to believe but thanks.” Liv realized her words probably came across slightly harsh and winced. “Sorry,” she started to apologize.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hiro brushed her off. “I’m sure the whole ordeal left you more messed up than anyone.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Liv tried to argue before getting cut off by the until then silent robot.

“Your emotional state indicates that you are not fine. It is common for people to undergo post traumatic stress syndrome after going through ordeals such as the one you did. Symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome you are currently exhibiting include-”

“That’s enough, thank you, Baymax,” Hiro cut the bot off much to Liv’s relief. “Look, I can understand you not wanting to talk to me, a teenager that was involved, but Aunt Cass cares about you, I think it would make both you and her feel better if you at least talked to her. Just, uh, maybe keep in mind that there’s a _lot_ she doesn’t know?” Hiro rubbed the back of his neck, giving Liv a sheepish look.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Liv promised, knowing from Di’s files that he was referring to more than just his presence at Sycorax that fateful day.

Their conversation evolved to lab talk after that. They may have been different fields, but there still remained a degree of overlap that allowed them to converse about their respective work with ease. They were still talking about lab stuff when Cass walked over. “Well, you two seem to have hit it off,” she commented.

Liv nodded. “Hiro might have some ideas as to why my equipment keeps failing,” she mentioned.

“Obviously if the problems were bio related, you’d have figured it out by now, which leads me to believe the problems are more mechanical in nature.” Hiro turned to Cass. “I thought I might head over to Sycorax tomorrow to take a look,” he told her.

“Absolutely,” Cass said. “For now, though, it’s dinner time. You’re staying, of course,” she directed to Liv.

“I don’t want to intrude,” Liv protested. Hiro might have been okay with her, but she didn’t want to push it.

“You’re not,” Cass insisted. “Hiro can show you upstairs, I’ll be there in a moment.” She walked off, disappearing back into the kitchen.

“You’re not intruding,” Hiro echoed. “Aunt Cass might know a lot of people, but she’s never really had any close friends as far as I can remember. Your friendship is as good for her as it is for you.”

Liv faltered; she never would have thought that. “Then I guess we better head upstairs before she gets mad at us for being slow,” she chuckled, collecting her things.

“Good choice.” Hiro grinned at her before turning to lead the way.

Liv smiled to herself, perhaps good choices were something she was finally capable of making.

Life fell into a nice routine after that.

Things at Sycorax were running better now that they had Hiro as their unofficial mechanic, they still weren’t thriving but at least now surviving was easier with functional equipment.

Liv continued to go to the Lucky Cat on a regular basis, still preferring quieter times and her table in the corner, though Hiro now made the effort to stop by and talk to her whenever he passed through while she was there. She also had dinner with the Hamadas at least once every couple of weeks at Cass’s insistence. Cass had actually tried for once a week but that had felt a bit too overwhelming to Liv, who still hadn’t exactly gotten used to people wanting to be around her again.

She was surprised to find the Lucky Cat closed one afternoon when she got there. Liv knew that Cass catered as well, but she never closed the café in favour of a catering job, if there was no one to cover she simply didn’t take the job. The fact that the café was closed with no indication as to why alarmed Liv. She pulled out her phone

_Liv: Everything alright? I got to the LC and it was closed, you never close this early in the day._

_Cass: You still here?_

_Liv: Yeah, why?_

_Cass: Come around to the side door._

Liv put her phone away, her concern only growing as she went around to the door that led directly into the Hamada’s apartment. It opened as she got there, revealing Cass whose eyes were red-rimmed. “Liv,” she choked out, throwing her arms around the woman in question.

“I’m here, I’ve got you,” Liv attempted to comfort her, automatically guiding her back inside and closing the door behind them. “Come on.” She led Cass up to the kitchen, sitting her down and fetching her a mug of tea before attempting to converse further. “What’s going on, Cass?” She asked softly once they were both sat down.

Cass stayed silent for a moment, absent-mindedly scratching Mochi’s ears, the cat having jumped up onto her lap when she had sat down. “It’s the first anniversary of Tadashi’s death,” she said quietly.

“Oh, Cass.” Liv moved her chair around the table, so she was next to Cass, pulling her into her arms, rubbing her back as she cried.

“You know, most days I’m okay,” Cass found her voice again. “The pain is there, but I made my peace with his loss, there’s nothing I could do to bring him back, so I did my best to move on which is what I know he would want. But today,” her words choked off in a sob.

“Hey now.” Liv wrapped an arm around Cass’s shoulder, giving them a comforting squeeze. “Grief is a funny thing, some days it’s like it isn’t even there, some days it’s all-encompassing and not always for a reason you can determine. It’s only been a year, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Cass nodded, swiping at her eyes. “How’s Hiro doing?” Liv asked after a moment, realizing she hadn’t yet seen him.

Cass sighed, suddenly looking about ten years older. “He’s in the garage. He’s been working on something all day, refuses to say what. I just can’t get through to him, neither could any of his friends.” She paused, wiping away a stray tear. “He and Tadashi were so close, at first I was worried I was going to lose him too. I just wish he would let me be there for him.”

Liv felt a pang, so much of that felt so familiar to her. “Maybe I should try talking to him,” she suggested.

Cass startled. “Really?”

“Let’s just say I understand what he’s feeling. I’ll explain later,” she added when Cass raised an eyebrow.

“Guess it couldn’t hurt.” Cass shrugged. “The garage is around the back in the alley.”

“I’ll try my best,” Liv assured her. Cass gave her a somewhat sad smile but nodded. Liv leaned over to give her another hug before getting up and making her way to the garage.

Hiro was typing madly as Liv entered the garage, a glance at the computer screen seeming to reveal some sort of code but for what Liv couldn’t tell. “Hey, Hiro,” she said gently as to not startle him. “What are you working on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Hiro responding not even sparing a single glance Liv’s way.

“Right,” Liv drawled, absolutely not believing him. She glanced around the garage, her gaze landing on Baymax who had apparently been deactivated and was lying a few feet away. That gave her an idea. “Ouch!” She said sharply, breathing a sigh of relief when he activated.

“Hello, I am Baymax, your personal health care companion. I was alerted to your need for medical attention when you said ‘ouch’. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

“I’m alright,” Liv assured the bot. She could see Hiro scowl, but he didn’t pause his work. “Can you tell me what Hiro’s working on?”

“Baymax, don’t!” Hiro protested, though the bot ignored him.

“Hiro is working on an artificial intelligence modelled after Tadashi. I have tried advising against doing so, but he will not listen.”

“You weren’t supposed to tell anyone, Baymax,” Hiro growled, finally turning away from the computer.

“I have concerns about how your project is affecting your mental state. As your personal heath care companion, I am doing what I think is best for your health.”

“Thanks, Baymax,” Liv interjected before Hiro could say anything else. “I am satisfied with my care,” she continued to deactivate the bot once more. “You know there’s a whole Black Mirror episode on why that’s a bad idea, right?” She turned to address Hiro.

Hiro rolled his eyes. “That tech was highly flawed, mine won’t be. I know what I’m doing.”

“I thought I knew what I was doing too, and I nearly got the city destroyed,” Liv retorted.

Hiro’s eyes widened for a split second before narrowing defensively. “That was different,” he argued.

“Is it?” Liv challenged. “The only real difference here is that while you’re going the A.I. route, I went the clone route.”

This seemed to catch Hiro off guard. “Wait, what? You mean Di wasn’t intended to take your place?”

Liv shook her head. “Not originally.” She grabbed a nearby stool and sat down next to Hiro, pulling out her phone and bringing up a photo of two identical ten-year-old girls, showing it to him. “This is an old photo of me and my identical twin sister, the original Diane.”

Hiro’s face was unreadable. “What happened to her?” He asked.

“Cancer. Died when we were thirteen.” Liv felt the grief she always felt when Diane came up seize her heart, but pushed it aside, keeping her focus on Hiro. “She was my best friend and when I lost her…”

“You felt like you lost yourself,” Hiro finished her thought. “Yeah, I, uh, I know what that’s like.”

“She’s the reason for a lot of what I’ve done at Sycorax,” Liv continued. She had a feeling telling Hiro this would help not just him but her as well. “I started the immortality project because I thought I could prevent anyone from losing someone they loved to disease ever again, and somewhere along the line I thought ‘hey, I have all this tech, who says Diane has to stay lost?’. We were identical twins after all, a clone with my DNA and programmed with my memories of Diane would be close enough, right? What I didn’t count on was the parasynth project going south.”

“So, instead of replacing your sister, she ended up having to take your place to try and find the cure,” Hiro summarized. “I had wondered why she had a different name.”

Liv nodded. “I was glad when she chose to go by Di, Diane refused to let people call her that when we were kids,” she chuckled wanly. “I didn’t change much about her in the end actually, just gave her my knowledge and a new purpose. It wasn’t until after I woke up that I realized just how unstable she was and how much worse I made everything.”

“Wow,” Hiro said, taking the whole story in. “That’s a lot.”

“I know you miss Tadashi. I miss Diane more than words can describe. But sometimes there are unintended consequences of our actions, and we need to consider the possibility of such.” Liv gave Hiro a sympathetic look, sadness clear in her eyes.

Hiro paused, seemingly mulling things over. “I’m more familiar with the unintended consequence thing than you may think,” he finally said, turning back towards the computer and deleting what he’d been working on. “And you’re right, I don’t want to go down that route again. You’re not the only one here who’s nearly gotten the city destroyed.”

Liv decided that was a topic best left for another time. “I’m proud of you.” She smiled, Baymax catching her eye once again. “You told me once that it was Tadashi who created Baymax, what drove him to create him?” She watched as Hiro’s face lit up, feeling relief knowing he would be okay.

That was how Cass found them an hour later, trading stories of their lost siblings. She smiled to herself, seemed Liv had done the impossible. How she had managed it could wait until later.

And so, life continued to go on.

For Liv the Lucky Cat, and by extension the Hamada apartment, had become something of a refuge, the one place where she felt like she was wanted and not just tolerated. In contrast, Sycorax was slowly becoming more and more a nightmare.

Liv was staring down the face of some extremely difficult decisions. Sycorax was still operating out of the original building, but with how small an operation it now was, keeping such a large building was starting to become financially unfeasible. She either had to expand or sell the building and move somewhere smaller.

The thought struck Liv with about every negative emotion there was. She had designed Sycorax herself, the thought of giving up that building was enough to send her to pieces, but she still wasn’t convinced that she could rebuild it and be accepted by the public once more. Still, she had only just finished taking back the building for herself, divesting it of all of Di’s influence, she didn’t want to give it up yet.

Though she might no longer have a choice.

It was this problem that was at the forefront of her mind when she arrived at the Lucky Cat one day, but instead of entering the café she felt the impulse to go around to the garage and see if Hiro was there. The teen was surprisingly easy to talk to, he was wise beyond his years and their shared life experiences often meant there were things they talked about that others couldn’t truly understand. In this case, he was much more familiar with everything that had happened under Di than Cass was, and she thought maybe he’d have some insight that might help her.

“Liv, hey,” Hiro greeted her as she entered. “I was just working on some new mag tech, check this out.” He took a handful of small silver spheres and tossed them towards the trash can, a network of magnetic ropes emerging and encasing it.

“Magnetic net, nice,” Liv commented. “I’d ask how it works, but I’m sure it’s a bit technical for someone whose area of expertise isn’t mechanics.”

“Please, you’d understand it just fine.” Hiro rolled his eyes. “Anyway, what’s up?”

Liv sighed, taking a seat in the armchair nearby Hiro’s desk. “Sycorax things, not that there’s anything unusual about that.”

“Had another breakdown? I’m not busy, I can go take a look if you want.” Hiro powered down the magnets and went to put them away.

“No, everything’s working. For now, at least,” Liv amended after a pause, hoping she hadn’t just jinxed herself. “No, it’s other things.”

“Like what?” Hiro asked her.

“I might have to give up the building,” Liv confessed.

“What?” This seemed to catch Hiro off guard. “Why?”

“Can’t afford it anymore.” Liv shrugged. “We either need to expand and start bringing in more revenue and research grants or sell the building and move somewhere smaller. And well, I doubt an expansion would be successful.”

“Why do you think that?” Hiro seemed confused.

“Not everyone is as forgiving of me as you and your aunt,” Liv pointed out. “The general public doesn’t forget. Expanding would be a huge risk, one that could lose me Sycorax entirely if it went wrong.”

“Maybe,” Hiro said slowly, an idea clearly forming in his mind. “But not if you went about it the right way.”

Liv raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly is the right way?”

“You need a project the public can’t help but get behind,” Hiro explained. “Something associated with healing that you could donate the proceeds from. Get something like that off the ground and the public’s trust will grow.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Liv pondered. “But what could that project possibly be? I don’t have the funds to develop something new.”

“Not from scratch, but Tadashi’s dream was a Baymax in every hospital, how do you feel about helping me make his dream a reality?” Hiro looked from where Baymax was currently charging to Liv, excitement evident in his eyes.

This had not been what Liv expected. “Sycorax isn’t a robotics company though,” she reminded him.

“Co-opportunity.” Hiro grinned. “Between you and Krei Tech. You still feel as though you owe the city, and Krei definitely does whether or not he wants to admit to it considering he gave Trina everything she needed to start the robot uprising after only a single meeting. The two companies can enter a joint venture in which both donate the proceeds.”

That wasn’t a bad idea actually. There were just a couple things. “You’re banking on Alistair Krei being willing to work with me though, he wasn’t fond of me even before the Di thing,” Liv pointed out.

“You don’t have to worry about Krei, I can handle him.” Hiro chuckled in a way that had Liv thinking she didn’t want to know his methods.

“Why not produce him yourself? Create a tech start-up?” Liv asked. That was what was really nagging at her. Hiro could make a good living for himself off Baymax if he chose to, why give that up?

Hiro shrugged. “Tadashi’s goal was to help people, why not help someone who needs it in the process of getting Baymax out there? He was all about how he could help people, not what he could get out of it.” He smiled somewhat sadly. “He was probably the most selfless person I knew. I think you would have liked him.”

“I wish I’d gotten to meet him,” Liv agreed. Silence ensued for a moment before Liv stood, going to inspect Baymax. “He’s going to need some redesigns,” she said, turning towards Hiro, his face understandably stony. “I’d never even dream of altering your Baymax but the model that goes to market will need a few edits. For one, he needs more dexterity, his scanning capabilities are all well and good, but hospitals will want him to be able to administer more treatments than he’s currently capable of.”

Hiro gave her a defiant look before giving in with a sigh. “Part of me wants to defend Tadashi’s design but I can hear his voice in my head telling me that the original design is never what goes to market, redesigns are inevitable. You’re right, I have a few ideas about his speed and the fact that he’s like a turtle on its back when he falls over as well.”

Liv giggled at the mental image. “Looks like we’ve got some work ahead of us then. Shall we shake on it?” She asked wryly, holding out her hand.

“Ms. Amara, you have a deal,” Hiro replied in a somewhat teasing tone, shaking her hand.

“Glad to hear, Mr. Hamada,” Liv decided to play along. “I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership.”


	2. Chapter 2

Liv was surprised at how smooth things were going.

She had been right about Krei, he had taken one look at her the first meeting Hiro set up and refused before even hearing her and Hiro’s proposal. Liv still wasn’t sure how Hiro had convinced him to join in their venture and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but he had agreed and that was what mattered.

True to Liv’s word, Baymax hadn’t had any alterations done to his body, though he had been integral in testing new designs, Hiro would move his chip between models they’d been testing and get his opinion on changes they had made. Soon they’d had a model that still captured his marshmallowy-ness but also provided him with more capability to treat patients. Though it wasn’t long before she noticed a couple of the upgrades they had made appear on the original Baymax.

_“There’s something different about Baymax,” Liv observed. Hiro made a noncommittal noise, focus still on the robotic arm in front of him. “it’s almost as if he moves faster these days and I bet if I were to knock him over, he would get up by himself no problem,” she continued. This caused Hiro to pause. “Both things that would make Big Hero 6 work much easier.”_

_“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hiro protested, voice suddenly high pitched, panicked look on his face._

_“We need to work on your poker face, it’s amazing not everyone’s figured you out yet.” Liv rolled her eyes. “It was in Di’s files; guess she had found out somehow. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone,” she assured him._

_Hiro’s phone buzzed with a text, his eyes widening as he read it. “So, I can trust you to cover for me if Aunt Cass comes by then?” He checked._

_“Yep.” The word was barely out of her mouth before Hiro was gone. She rolled her eyes again, this time affectionately, and went back to work._

Hiro held the patent, of course. Liv wouldn’t hear otherwise no matter what Krei seemed to think. Besides, this way she could make sure Hiro got some royalties from sales, it wasn’t like he was getting paid much for his work on the project. A small team had been set up with members from both companies, one that Hiro was the head of though Krei apparently hadn’t changed his unpaid intern status and Liv couldn’t afford to pay him much, so royalties were pretty much the only way he was going to get paid fairly much to Liv’s chagrin. Hiro hadn’t seemed to mind though; he was just glad to be realizing Tadashi’s dream.

_“Are you sure you don’t want to produce him yourself? You really could make a good living off him.”_

_“I’ve got two words for you, magnetic net. I can make plenty off my own creations, even if I were producing Baymax myself the money was always going to be donated in Tadashi’s memory.”_

Still, she would have to find a way to bully Krei into paying Hiro, he certainly deserved it after all he’d done for the man. At least they had finally gotten Krei to agree that proceeds would go to paying for damages done by Di and Trina and then afterwards would get split between SFIT for the Tadashi Hamada Memorial Scholarship and the hospitals to help patients with their medical bills.

Much of the work ended up being done in the garage, Hiro’s preferred workspace. As a result, Liv started spending long hours there. Cass had been happy to see her over more often despite the muttered comments about them being cooped up in the ‘lab’. Really, Liv shouldn’t have been surprised the first time she ended up falling asleep in the garage while working.

_A crash startled Liv awake. She blinked, disoriented, suddenly realizing that she was not in her bed. She tried to think back to what she last remembered, coming up with working in the garage with Hiro, trying to work through a bug in the code._

_“Sorry,” came Cass’s voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”_

_“It’s okay.” Liv sat up, realizing she was on the Hamada’s couch. She groaned, rubbing her temple, she definitely had a headache building. “How did I get here?”_

_“You fell asleep in the garage, so I had Baymax bring you up,” Cass explained. “I was trying to be quiet as to not wake you, it’s still early. Why don’t you try and get some more sleep? You certainly need it.”_

_“I should go home,” Liv protested weakly, large yawn detracting from her words._

_“Nonsense.” Cass came over to her, gently coaxing her back down onto the cushions. “There’s no need for you to go anywhere. Why don’t you get a few more hours of sleep and then you can come down to the café for breakfast?”_

_Liv nodded, too tired to protest. “Thanks, Cass,” she murmured, already halfway to sleep._

_“Of course, that’s what friends are for.”_

Since then, Liv had taken to keeping a change of clothes at the Hamadas for when that happened.

Another change that occurred in Liv’s life was that, with a bit of convincing from Cass, she had begun to see a therapist. The second time she had passed out at the Hamadas she had woken up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, one that had also woken Cass and left her a semi-hysterical wreck. Cass had managed to calm her down, holding her until she finally fell back asleep, but had taken her aside the next day and gently spoken to her about how it was ultimately up to her but she thought Liv could benefit from talking to someone.

_“Liv,” Cass caught her as she was heading out for the day. “Are you alright?”_

_“I’m fine.” Liv blushed. “Sorry about last night,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment._

_“Don’t apologize. Do they happen often?” Cass asked. Liv could tell she was trying to keep her face neutral, but she could see the sadness in Cass’s eyes, the pity that she hated so much._

_“They were bad for a while after Diane died but they got better,” Liv explained with a shrug. “They were rare until the parasynths, but they’ve started getting worse again. Still, they aren’t as bad as they were when I was a teen.”_

_“Have you ever seen anyone about them?” Cass asked gently, clearly trying to tread carefully._

_“I’m fine,” Liv snapped, immediately recoiling. “Sorry,” she apologized._

_“There’s no need for it,” Cass told her. “I’m not saying you’re weak or anything, I’m saying that sometimes everyone needs a bit of help. I was barely older than you when I lost my sister and found myself the sole guardian of my ten and three year old nephews, seeing a therapist was the only way I got through those first few years. I made sure Hiro saw one after we lost Tadashi as well. I’m not saying you have to, but I think it’s something you should consider, okay?” She gave Liv a gentle, reassuring smile._

_Liv nodded, feeling tears build in her eyes yet again. “I won’t make promises, but I’ll consider it,” she agreed._

_Cass pulled her into a hug. “I’m glad to hear.”_

Liv had to admit, Cass was right. She still admittedly hadn’t been able to forgive herself or really think she deserved it, but at least the nightmares had gotten better again.

One of the final stages of bringing Baymax to market, one that Liv had been doing her best to not think about, was the trial stage. The stage where they brought working models to a few hospitals to pitch him to them and hope they would agree to trial him.

Thankfully, whether he realized it or not, Hiro was a natural salesperson and had no problem selling the initial ten Baymax models they had created for trial to various hospitals. Liv had worried that as soon as they realized Sycorax’s involvement, they would all refuse. Hiro, however, had assured her he had a secret weapon up his sleeve.

_“You going to tell me why were here?” Liv asked Hiro as he gave her a tour of Big Hero 6’s secret headquarters. “Also, when did you even create this place?”_

_“Remember that whole SFPD had warrants out for our arrest thing? We needed to lay low and this seemed like the best place to do so, thankfully Fred had some connections to get it up and running,” Hiro explained. “As for your first question, I, and the rest of the team, have a proposal for you.”_

_Liv raised an eyebrow. “What sort of proposal?”_

_“First, I think you should read this.” Hiro handed her a folded piece of paper._

_Liv gave him a strange look but took it, opening it to reveal, “this is a letter from Big Hero 6 vouching for me. Wait, was this your so-called secret weapon?” She couldn’t believe what she was reading._

_“Yep, a sealed copy given to each of the hospitals that currently have a Baymax unit. You weren’t wrong about the public losing trust in you and rebuilding always requires someone being the first to trust you. So, I thought why not Big Hero 6 aka the group that took down Di’s monsters? If they have trust in you, why shouldn’t everyone else?” Hiro finished with a shrug._

_This stunned Liv. “Wow, I don’t know what to say.”_

_“You could accept our proposal to join the team as a consultant,” Hiro pitched. “We may be a bunch of nerds but the one thing we’re missing is a bio nerd and well, one might come in handy should we ever have to deal with monsters again. What do you say?” He looked at Liv expectantly._

_For Liv there was no question. “If Big Hero 6 ever needs my help, all they have to do is ask,” she confirmed._

Baymax trials had gone extremely well and that meant the time had come for the next step.

Launching the product.

Liv wouldn’t give this up for anything. Watching the joy bringing Baymax to the market brought Hiro alone had been worth it. Cass too had been positively impacted even if she had sworn Hiro and Liv were determined to drive her crazy during the development phase with their long hours and both forgetting to do things like sleep and eat. But even then, she had to admit in the end that seeing her lost nephew’s invention fulfilling its purpose was one of the best things that had happened to their family recently.

Still, this was the part of the process that Liv had been dreading the most. She had managed to lay low thus far, but the launch event meant she would have to make her first public appearance since the Di incident and to say she was nervous would be an understatement.

She knew she didn’t really have much to worry about. She may have been slated to make a speech and would be on stage during the main event, but she knew most of the attention would be on Hiro. Besides, Cass would be right backstage and there would be several friendly faces in the audience that she knew of including Hiro’s friends and Grace Granville, from whom she had received a surprise message the other day saying that she was looking forward to seeing her at the event.

Liv paced backstage, nervously smoothing the fabric of the dark green gown she was wearing as she waited for her cue. A voice broke into her conscious, “you know wearing a hole into the ground isn’t going to change that everything is going to go just fine.”

Liv paused, turning to see Cass giving her a wry smile. “I know, I just don’t know what else to do with the nervous energy,” she said.

“Channel it into giving the best speech you’ve ever given,” Cass suggested just as Liv’s cue came. “Now go and rock the house.” She gave Liv an encouraging smile.

“Thanks,” Liv told her as she made her way onstage. She took a deep breath, locating Hiro’s friends in the audience as a focal point before starting to talk.

“My involvement in this project starts out with the story of a pair of identical twin sisters…”

Liv stood off to the side of the banquet hall several hours later, thankful to finally get a chance to breathe. Hiro was still surrounded by various people wishing to speak to him, but he seemed surprisingly okay, content to talk up his brother’s invention to potential buyers. Liv could see Cass nearby; she would keep things from getting out of hand if necessary.

Safely hidden from view by a large pillar, Liv let herself lean against the wall, breathing out a sigh of relief as the brief moment of solitude enveloped her. She knew she had to go back eventually, that people would start to miss her soon enough, but after so long out of the spotlight she now found the attention overwhelming.

The attention had been surprising in a good way. She hadn’t been expecting people to be interested in talking to her, tolerate her maybe but certainly not accept her in the way that they did. She may have begun to warm up to the idea that the general public didn’t hate her, but she hadn’t been expecting the welcome she got. Apparently sharing her story had been the right move. Even a month ago she would have been hesitant to, not wanting to seem as if she was looking for sympathy she didn’t deserve, but she had accepted that her past was not her fault and that sharing her story could be a good thing.

She had been approached by several people after speeches had concluded, some simply to say they were glad to see her making a return to the field, others to say that her story resonated with them and that they were looking forward to what she came up with next. 

The most surprising person had been Karmi. Liv had known she had returned to SFIT for the fall term, but she hadn’t known she would be there that night. They had had a good conversation though, one that had left Liv feeling more optimistic than she had even at the beginning of the night.

“Penny for your thoughts,” came Cass’s voice. Liv startled, doing a double take and looking back to where she could have sworn she saw Cass only a minute ago, noticing instead Hiro with his friends. “You alright?” Cass checked.

Liv nodded. “Yeah, I just needed a bit of a breather. It’s all a lot more than I thought it would be.”

“You’re doing wonderfully,” Cass assured her.

“So is Hiro,” Liv pointed out. “He really is a natural.”

“He is,” Cass agreed, watching her nephew goof around with his friends fondly. “I’m so proud of him. I’m proud of you as well,” she added, looking back to Liv. “You’ve come so far since the first time you walked into the Lucky Cat.”

“You know, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I might actually be okay.” Liv’s voice was heavy with emotion.

Cass pulled her into a hug. “I _know_ you’re going to be okay. Besides, whatever happens you’ve got me and Hiro, we’re not going anywhere.” She released Liv, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Thanks, Cass. I’m glad I have people like you in my corner.” Liv blinked back tears, stunned to realize that for the first time since before Di, they were happy ones.

“Of course,” Cass said, mischievous look brewing in her eyes. “And now that we’ve established that, given any more thought to letting me set you up? I know plenty of both men and women who would be interested, some of whom are here tonight.”

Liv couldn’t help it, she burst into laughter, Cass following her. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Liv finally managed to choke out between giggles. “I do trust you, but I am in no way ready for _that_ quite yet.”

“Fair enough,” Cass said, still giggling slightly. “We should probably head back out there,” she realized.

Liv nodded. “Go, I’ll be right behind you.” Cass obliged, giving Liv a second to collect herself again before stepping back out into the crowd, Hiro and his friends immediately noticing her and calling her over. Liv smiled to herself. 

Yeah, she was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Et fini!
> 
> A lot of what I used for Liv's background comes from my own headcanons about her (can be found on my tumblr which is currently pipperlowonida) that I came up with while theorizing why she might have been pursuing immortality in the first place. I chose Livia as a full first name cause I figured since Di was a nickname, why couldn't Liv be as well? Considering the Shakespeare motif she has going I looked at Shakespearean characters and in his works there is a Diana and an Olivia so I figured Diane is a variation of Diana why not go for Livia as a variation of Olivia (also since there's an Olivia in the series I didn't want to use that name).
> 
> Obviously a few creative liberties were taken, we don't know anything of what happened to Liv in the end and while Return to Sycorax seems to indicate it went out of business considering it was revealed to be a dream in the end, I'm taking anything we might have learned from that ep with a grain of salt.
> 
> Anyway, I hope people enjoyed, would love to hear what y'all think. I would love to revisit this little universe and Liv as a character in the future considering we got basically nothing on her in the end but for now who even knows what my next project will be (certainly not me).
> 
> Until next time!


End file.
